Michael Reardon’s Year of Living Dangerously – Loose Cannon
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When all else fails, try journalism. Michael Reardon’s Year of Living DangerouslyCatalina Yachts and Daedalus Close Doors. Can Tartan Survive?
This year has been an interesting one for boatbuilder extraordinaire Michael Alexander Reardon, to put it mildly. Reardon is a native of Australia who has created an image of himself—cheered on by our slavish boating press—as a hugely successful boatbuilder with a reputation for technically wizardry. His resume, as shown below, includes employers such as Gunboat, Skagen and Greenline.
As we were about to publish, Reardon replied to a text message asking for his side of the story. You can read the interview here:
2025 TimelineReardon is arrested by police on February 5 for allegedly driving his unregistered car through a stop sign and speeding away from police “carelessly and heedlessly in willful and wanton disregard of the rights and safety of others.” (For the record, the North Carolina prosecutor dropped all traffic charges against Reardon without explanation.) On April 11, witnesses say, Reardon attacks a worker on the floor at the Daedalus yacht factory. Reardon ends up on the ground when a second worker intercedes. A third worker videotapes the tussle, news of which will have an outsized effect on the future of the Edenton, North Carolina, builder. Later in April, Reardon enters into a provisional purchase agreement with the California parent company of Catalina Yachts in Largo Florida. He takes ownership of the company with a requirement to make regular payments. In late July, Reardon’s financial backer—and purchaser of the only boat under construction at Daedalus—had the vessel hauled out of the factory and put on a ship to France for completion there. There was a dramatic video on YouTube showing the move, copied here:  Best known as the inventor of Google Maps, Stefan Muff is advertised as Reardon’s partner in Daedalus. That carbon-fiber 100-footer above was being built for him and his wife, who visit frequently to check on the status of their boat. According to former Daedalus employees, some of whom had formed their own relationships with the Muffs, the Swiss couple had been looking for a way to shed themselves of Reardon and Daedalus. According to the ex-employees interviewed for this article, the fight on the factory floor provides the Muffs with a “last straw,” enabling them to nullify their contract. That’s when they take their boat and go back to Europe. On August 20, the Daedalus workforce is furloughed. Owned by the Muffs, the factory itself is listed for sale for $3.5 million. At some point in August, Reardon visits Anacortes, Washington, to discuss purchase of Tartan Yachts from owner Seattle Yachts. No one remembers Reardon saying anything about Daedalus going out of business. The sale of Tartan is finalized in September; the Ohio workforce is furloughed but returns to work soon after. On September 4, Reardon visits the Catalina factory for a talk with workers who haven’t been paid in weeks. In an audio tape obtained by Loose Cannon, Reardon can be heard telling workers that he was “under huge financial stress” but there is hope because of an expected windfall:
According to ex-Daedalus people, “a few technical issues” was a bit of an understatement. The boat that had left the Edenton plant was just a carbon-fiber shell, months or maybe a year away from any seatrial that would precede delivery and any final payment from the owner. (The total cost of the finished boat had been estimated at $35 million.) On September 18, California Catalina files a lawsuit against Reardon for non-payment of rent for the Florida Catalina factory and, by default, the $1 million promised for purchase of company assets—real estate, tooling, etc.
On October 14, the president of Catalina Yachts, Patrick Turner, is videotaped assuring workers that Reardon had “done his part,” trying to find an investor to keep Catalina going. According to Turner, Reardon had been dealing with an unnamed potential money-man who asked questions but did not commit. Turner announces that Catalina was shutting down “temporarily.” On October 22, a Florida court grants California Catalina’s motion to have Reardon evicted from Largo premises, so no one except the family of late Catalina founder Frank Butler, or a successor company chosen by them, can reopen the plant. In the accompanying Q&A, Reardon says the plant will reopen but doesn’t specify how. Meanwhile, the question has to be: With this kind of public record, who would ever be convinced to put a downpayment on a new Tartan? Reardon avoids answering that question in the accompanying Q&A with him. Ken Bauer of the Catalina Owners Association has his own take on Reardon’s track record:
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